D. Clear safeguards against statelessness should be introduced,
ensuring that all children born in the territory who would otherwise
be stateless are recognised as citizens of Myanmar.
E. The law should guarantee due process, impose reasonable
time limits for decision making and ensure the right of review and
appeal of administrative decisions. The law should incentivise
good decision making, and decision makers should be obligated
to provide written reasons for their decisions.
F. The grounds for loss and revocation of citizenship should be
revised to protect against discrimination and arbitrariness and
to bring them in line with international standards.1 In no circumstances should children lose their citizenship because their parents’ citizenship is lost or revoked.
2
A civilian government of
Myanmar should address the
multiple challenges related to
the discriminatory and arbitrary
implementation of the law,
which undermines the rule of
law, public faith in the legal
system and social cohesion. In
particular:
A. All administrative procedures should be published and made
available in languages understood by the applicants, to ensure that
the requirements are known to all applicants, and to protect against
discrepancies in the evidence required of different applicants.
B. All public servants should receive training and ongoing professional development and support in maintaining administrative and
procedural practices and standards, including in relation to non-discrimination, transparency, accountability and anti-corruption.
C. The evidentiary burden on applicants should be reduced and
shared with the state. Authorities should have greater discretion
to accept alternative evidence in the absence of the listed documents, but less discretion to increase the evidentiary burden on
applicants.
D. Civil registration should be more accessible and streamlined,
including through minimising the number of visits to government
offices and operating mobile clinics in remote areas.
E. Public servants should adhere to the highest professional
standards when inputting data into official forms and applicants
should not be penalised for administrative errors in data entry or
translation.
3
A civilian government of
Myanmar should strengthen its
adherence with international
standards. In particular:
A. Myanmar should implement all relevant recommendations of
the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
B. Myanmar should accede to the core human rights treaties
(including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights)
as well as the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless
Persons (CRSSP) and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of
Statelessness.
C. Myanmar should accept and implement recommendations on
protecting the right to nationality and eradicating statelessness, of
relevant UN Special Rapporteurs, Independent Commissions and
Mechanisms and human rights organisations.
Institute on Statelessness an Inclusion, ‘Principles on Deprivation of Nationality as a National Security Measure,’ (2020), available at: https://files.institutesi.org/
PRINCIPLES.pdf.
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